National spotlight shines at University School on National Signing Day

February 7, 2013|By Christy Cabrera Chirinos, Sun Sentinel

Two weeks before National Signing Day, University School wide receiver Jordan Cunningham already knew where he was going to play college football.

But the All-American opted to keep his secret until Wednesday, hoping that a little bit of radio silence on his end might help some of his teammates, both those still waiting for scholarship offers and underclassmen hoping to sign next year.

His efforts may have paid off. Over the course of the past few weeks, Suns coach Roger Harriott said earlier that a number of top college coaches including Ohio State's Urban Meyer, Alabama's Nick Saban, and South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, among others, have all stopped by University School. It's been a parade of college football royalty for the past few weeks and Harriott added that while a number of those coaches have yes, spoken with Cunningham and linebacker Skai Moore (who also waited until NSD to announce), many coaches met a number of the Suns 2014 prospects.

Wednesday, Cunningham helped University gain more national attention when he announced his decision to attend Vanderbilt live on ESPNU. Moore, meanwhile, signed with South Carolina.

“I really wanted to advertise University School and to let everyone know we had good football players here,” Cunningham said. “For us, today has been a long time coming. This class is one of the biggest classes we’ve had. We’ve been at University School for a long time and we just wanted to represent U-School in the proper manner. There were a few technical difficulties, but we showed the world U-School has great players.”

University had a school-record 12 players sign on Wednesday. Along with Moore and Cunningham, Maquedius Bain signed with LSU, Jordan Budwig with FIU, Nick Internicola with Rutgers, Aubrey Duty-Tyson with Air Force, Angel Guzman with Gardner-Webb, Wesley Smith with Villanova, Dionte Taylor with Illinois, Donnince Woods with UMass, Jalen Battle with Illinois State, and Mike White with South Florida.

“This class is leaving a huge, great legacy,” Moore said. “This is a huge accomplishment. Not a lot of schools can say they do this. To send 12 kids for football is great and to see my friends go off to the next level and start their lives is very exciting. I’m grateful to be a part of this team.”